Hostage
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This article is about the hostage as a victim of a hostage situation. For other meanings, see Hostage (disambiguation).
A hostage (from the Old High German gisal "pledge") is a person who has been seized by force and illegally and is being held. By holding the hostage, sometimes even by threatening him, the hostage-takers want to enforce claims against third parties. Hostage-taking is prosecuted under criminal law (in Germany § 239b StGB).
In the Statute for the International Military Tribunal of 8 August 1945, the killing of hostages was included among the war crimes. In the trial of the generals in Southeastern Europe ("Hostages Trial")1947/48, the court assessed hostage shootings as barbaric but permissible reprisals under international law, but clearly classified the executions of hostages perpetrated by German troops in the occupied territories as war crimes because of their excessive features. The 1949 Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War generally prohibited the taking of hostages.
Legal History
Throughout history, to ensure that a treaty was honored, people were taken hostage by the other party and forced to live there. Often they were sons of noble representatives of tributary states, who were usually treated honorably and educated in the host country. Well-known examples are Theoderic the Great and Attila.
The doctrine of nuclear deterrence included the consideration that deterrence would be more effective if no country had nearly enough shelter places. The population was thus given the role of a hostage.
Today, hostages are taken as prisoners by criminals to be used to extort a ransom, to enforce terrorist demands, or to secure a withdrawal.
One speaks of a hostage situation when the period of captivity is prolonged.
Stockholm Syndrome
A behavioural pattern that sometimes occurs during hostage-taking is the so-called Stockholm syndrome. It describes the sympathy of a hostage with his captor. The causes of this phenomenon can be traced back to the immense psychological strain on the hostage, which is why any actions by the hostage-takers are interpreted by her as great benefits. The perception of the smallest actions benefiting the hostage, such as the provision of food, is enough for her to get the impression that the hostage-taker is taking care of her sacrificially. Stockholm Syndrome often results in the hostages cooperating with the hostage taker. The phenomenon takes its name from the 131-hour hostage situation at Norrmalmstorg at the end of August 1973, where the four bank employees held in a bank developed an intense affection for the hostage-takers and even stood up for them during the trial.
